Delphi and Aráchova, Greece



I was admiring a quaint mountainous village, oblivious to the drive until I heard loud gasps from my fellow passengers. Our bus driver was trying to maneuver a turn into a very narrow road in front of an oncoming truck. When I looked straight ahead, I saw a man standing, not directing traffic, but just standing still and looking at the truck and our bus. I do not know how our bus got through that very narrow road without a scrape on both the bus and the quaint little commercial and residential homes on the side of the narrow road. I was on a day trip to Delphi, a two-hour drive west of Athens.

I toured the ruins of Delphi and enjoyed great views of the valley below and the granite and snow-capped Mt. Parnassus.

Sometimes it's nice to travel without an itinerary, so I try to prepare myself for any inconvenience and to not take everything seriously.  I visited the Delphi museum after touring the ruins.  I did not have to worry about remembering all the myths and history to pass a Humanities class, so I just zipped through the museum and just enjoyed the statues of Greek Gods and the Adonis’s for their aesthetics.

After a visit to Delphi, I decided to explore that mountainous village of Arachova where our bus was stuck earlier. It was 12 kilometers away from Delphi.

Delphi and Arachova have very little in common but are bound together in their proximity and by Mt. Parnassus. Delphi belongs to another world, the classical period of Ancient Greece (510-323 BCE). It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the site of the sanctuary to Phoebus Apollo and the legendary Oracle of “Pythia.”  It’s believed to be determined by Zeus as the nave of the earth.

Aráchova seems to be a quaint village along the road to Delphi, but it is a sprawling mountainous village. Said to be the most cosmopolitan winter destination in Greece, it is a popular ski-resort with modern facilities. However, most of the restaurants were closed during my visit. So there was a limited choice of Greek food to try. I had Greek salad and moussaka for lunch. But it was seeing the houses nestled picturesquely at the edge of the mountain that mesmerized me the most.

NOTE:  All photos by the author

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